I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to defining silence intervals in a wireless communications system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as, for example, voice, data, and so on. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g. bandwidth, transmit power, . . . ). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems may simultaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices. Each mobile device may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to mobile devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from mobile devices to base stations. Further, communications between mobile devices and base stations may be established via single-input single-output (SISO) systems, multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and so forth.
In such systems, base stations, or other access points, can send out broadcast signals consumable by a plurality of mobile devices (e.g., cellular phones and the like) to provide information regarding presence of the base station and other information related thereto. For example, the information can comprise protocol for initiating communication with the base station. Base stations can be provided for multiple carriers, for instance, each of which can send broadcast signals over a forward link to the plurality of mobile devices in a MIMO configuration. The broadcast signals can be sent on similar channels using contiguous or adjacent frequencies. The base stations can also receive communications from the mobile devices on a reverse link, which can cause interference between the devices and/or base stations. However, some level of interference can be desired to allow the devices to transmit with sufficient power.